“Really?” I spared her a disgusted glance. “I’m about to get wasted and you shit out another dud?” She looked up at me, her eyes crossed slightly as if somewhere in her circuits the ghost of a Siamese kitten lurked. Her tail twitched. And the grenade began to smoke. Bright blue. In the shape of a fist with the middle finger raised.
“Oh, Bergman,” I chuckled, “you didn’t.”
His voice came back to me, breathless from running. “You like the effect?” he asked. “I think I got the same shade as Ufran’s nose. At least, that’s what I was going for.” The smoke, thick as yogurt, allowed me to back down the tunnel to where it turned before one of the gnomes caught up to me. We shot at nearly the same time. Only I didn’t jump when the adrenaline surged. Or tighten my major muscles and forget to breathe.
I won the showdown. Later I might puke in reaction to the close call. Now I said, “Come on, Astral.” I turned and rammed full into Vayl. “Ow! Geez, you could’ve warned me!” He’d wrapped an arm around my waist to keep me from falling. Now he pulled me in closer. “You are the most spectacular woman I have ever met.”
My toes literally curled inside my boots as he dropped a light kiss on my lips. A breathless moment later he’d disappeared into the square, swallowed by the smoke. I heard a strangled scream. Well, that takes care of my prob—
Another cry. And another. It sounded like reinforcements had arrived. And not one of them had counted on confronting a vampire in the full rush of his power. We’d created exactly the kind of havoc a shaman couldn’t just shrug off. But we had to survive to make it work. We needed to get our asses out of here.
NOW!
I knew Vayl could feel my urgency. He’d come. But would it be too late?
I transformed Grief back into gun mode, hoping whoever built these caverns had shored them up California style. I went back into the cavern, stood with my back to the tunnel entrance, and stared hard into the smoke, straining to see my sverhamin . It was a role he took seriously if the next groan I heard was any clue. Well, he could protect me until cows crapped coal, I also had a part to play in this relationship. And as his avhar it was my duty not only to watch his back in the fight he was waging, but to get him out in as good a shape as he was when he went in.
There! A face swimming out of the mist. Long, knobby-ended nose. Skin the shade of stale marshmallows. A moment of recognition as we both realized we’d met the enemy. Blur of movement as he raised his gun. But I’d beat him before he knew we were competing. I blew him back into the smoke.
“Jasmine!”
“Vayl, stop playing! We gotta go!”
Rush of cold air as he came to my side. “I do not play,” he said as he wiped a droplet of blood from his lips.
“You were eating ? A religious fanatic? Damn, don’t you have any taste?” Together we turned and ran down the tunnel. Moments later we heard the tromp of boots coming after us.
Still Vayl had the breath to say, “Your dinner before made me hungry. You should be thanking that little Ufranite. If not for him I might be asking you for a donation.”
“On second thought, snack on all the gnomes you like.” I didn’t mean it. I’d just begun sharing sheets with the guy and already I’d have given him anything he asked for. God forbid he ever figured it out. I also wouldn’t tell him that when he took my hand and his power jumped through me, giving me speed no human should master, I wanted to giggle like I had the first time I’d ridden the Rock-O-Plane at the county fair. I’d already embarrassed myself enough for one lifetime.
Vayl handed me my bolo. “I believe you dropped this.”
I hadn’t even realized how much I hated leaving it until my fingers tightened around the hilt.
“You cleaned it and everything! Vayl, this is… wow! Thanks!” For once I could tell exactly what was going on behind those amber eyes. So strange to have found another man who’d do anything to see me smile. I vowed never to take this one for granted.
We burst out of the illusionary door so quickly I’d have cracked my skull on the opposite wall if Vayl hadn’t pulled us to a sudden stop. Bergman, who’d been standing in the corner by the other door, moved forward. He held a bulging white sack whose writing I couldn’t read. But as soon as he threw the contents at the doorway I smelled the powdery grit of quick-drying concrete.
The door shimmered, twisted, and turned a putrid shade of yellow as the crete interacted with it. “What did you just do?” I asked.
“It’s a temporary blockade,” Bergman said.
“But… how did you know what to do?”
“I’d have been able to figure it out myself if I’d had the time. And RAFS. I mean, Astral,” he said defensively.
“Okay. I just wondered how—”
“I called the Agency’s warlock,” he finally admitted. “It was Vayl’s idea.” He frowned as he handed my boss his phone. “By the way, he doesn’t appreciate being called at seven a.m. when he didn’t get to bed until three. I thought he might frogify me through the receiver there for a minute.” Vayl shrugged. “As far as I know Sterling is not on assignment, which means his band probably had a gig last night. Do not worry.He is a decent sort, if somewhat moody.”
“Oh.” Bergman nodded, like that made sense. “Well, Sterling told me to get something that the wall would really be made of and throw it at the fake door while I said—huh. I can’t remember the words now. Anyway, he says it’s only a temporary stopper, but it’ll hold them long enough for us to get away.” Which was when we heard a series of thumps on the other side of the wall. Followed by shouts and cursing. Followed by prayers to Ufran for forgiveness for the cursing.
“Shouldn’t we go?” It was Tabitha, checking her watch and pacing at the top of the steps while Laal and Pajo showered big love on Jack, who withstood the hugs and tugs with his usual good humor.
I started to nod; then I noticed the celebration was missing a partier. “Where’s Cassandra?” As if I didn’t know.
My sverhamin came so close to me that I could feel his breath on my cheeks as he murmured, “I must confess I lied to you earlier. That second tunnel led to the basement of a church. She has taken refuge there until we return for her.”
“WHAT?”
Granny May grinned. Nice acting, Jazzy. Brude is totally convinced.
Vayl kept his voice level, calm, and low enough that only Bergman, he, and I could hear. “She thought it best. And I agreed.”
I shrugged. “Sounds like a plan.” When I felt Brude step back from the conversation I smiled and nodded, said, “Guess we’ll have some good stories to trade next time we get together.”
“Indeed.” Vayl glanced at the door, still blocked despite the loud and continuous onslaught on its opposite side. “We should go.”
“Fine.” I took the stairs two at a time, Astral keeping up nicely despite having passed a couple of grenades recently. I decided I just might get to like the little robot. Jack obviously felt the same. And he’d chosen this moment to bond.
I couldn’t fault his timing. Tabitha had begun to herd the kids toward the Wheezer. The rest of us raced after, leaving him free to demonstrate his affection for the newest member of the family. I caught it all in a single over-the-shoulder glance.
She might’ve had a chance if he’d barked. But he’d remembered their last encounter and decided to approach with wolflike stealth.
Under no orders to do otherwise, Astral sat down in the crackling brown grass and proceeded to groom the gray dust off her exterior, becoming so immersed in the job that he took her completely by surprise.